Totally agree

I didn't renew as have moved to Glasgow but to be honest wouldn't have been in a rush to anyhow as felt as disinterested in some of the games as some of our players were during the regular rounds.

Keith, that is the same in any competition where the final winner is decided through a play off system. Look at the NRL one of the reasons they have so many different winners is exactly because of what you have described i.e. the team that is hot at the end of the season will win it not the best team over the season.

I was waiting for your usual [i"but what about the NRL"[/i interjection and you didn't let me down.

There's a huge difference between the two competitions.

One is genuinely competitive and the other one isn't.

Any team tossing it off and holding back during the regular rounds in the NRL will struggle to qualify for the play offs.

That is not the case in SL because over half the teams are utter rubbish and the top teams will always qualify no matter what.

I was waiting for the defence and I wasn't disappointed - The NRL is way more competitive than the SL but that doesn't determine the winner - the winner is the team that goes into the play offs in the best form not the best team over the season. Melbourne like Wigan were the best side in the NRL last year but when it came to the play offs like Wigan they could not carry the form to the end.

What relevance does your NRL V SL analogy have with regard to the issue of the SL regular season being a waste of time where results and performances aren't that important?

As per usual, you jump in with both feet with a totally inappropriate analogy.

Nobody is talking about who deserves to be champions in any given season apart from you.

Because whenever you have a play off system to determine the winner you will reduce the importance of the regular rounds - I would have thought that was pretty obvious even to you. SL is no different from the NRL in that respect. A similar percentage of games in the NRL have as little relevance in the big picture as you have in SL. Do you really think Melbourne are in little more than cruise control when they playing all but 3/4 sides? In the 10 games this year they have scored more than 30 in six games - this isn't just a SL problem.

I can't predict with any reliable certainty the vast majority of qualifiers for the Top 8 in any given NRL season and neither can you. Teams finishing near the top one year can be near the bottom a season later or vice versa.

I can however predict with absolute certainty at least half a dozen (if not more) of the qualifiers for the Top 8 in any given SL season. In fact, I predicted all 8 last season.

That's the difference (lack of competitiveness between clubs in SL) and that's why the regular rounds in SL lack importance and are an opportunity for a club like Leeds to amble through the regular season without much risk to their overall chances. And no, Melbourne do not cruise through most games... they have to play well to ensure any winning streak or else they'll come unstuck, just like any other NRL club.

Feel free to knock out another ridiculous NRL analogy demonstrating your ignorance any time you feel the need to do so.

Keith cares so little about the Rhinos that he doesn't buy a season ticket.

But he does find time during his holidays to post about them.

I'll agree unreservedly with that. In a game when Saints ran away at the end and we have two 34 year old front rowers given significant game time whilst two substitutions and one substitute are un-used then criticism of the players from the coach doesn't sit too well with me this morning.

I'll agree though the aforementioned opposite centre was aided by a poor decision by Hall to stop sliding out and come in. That said, Hall can't have much confidence in who is defending inside him as the identity of that player changes by the minute during the game due to our defensive "tactics".

I have always had a season ticket up till 2011 because I am now at present out of the country,But I bought my season ticket to see RL at Headingley every other week and went to quite a few away games too.

Wish I still was on my holidays. I return to a forum full of knee-kerk reactions to a few defeats that mean absolutely nothing. Have you all learn't nothing from last year?

Didn't realise you were back. Couldn't have timed it better. The forum will be very lively, as usual, about now.

Just a couple of doom mongers revving up their engines in eager anticipation of defeats in the next few games and Substandard will be in overdrive again and you'll have plenty of fair game.

St Helens were running the ball on the fifth play of the set, Hall had half dropped back covering the potential of an early kick. Where I think he went wrong was in backing off and not moving forward to support the inside defence once it became apparent St Helens were running the ball on the play, which invited Shenton to take on and effectively beat Sinfield on the outside - this is the point 'Gilder' makes well with regards Sinfield's vulnerability on defence.